While all these bills seek to right wrongs, empower citizens and generally make government more accountable, they also should be entirely unnecessary in a constitutional republic where government is the servant rather than the master.

For Colorado's LGBT families, the prospect of doubling Colorado's LGBT representation in the legislature with an openly gay Speaker at the helm can restore hope that same-sex relationship recognition legislation will pass in the next session.

The Colorado legislature has taken a modest step towards restraining its penchant for overcriminalizing the lives of Coloradans. Let's hope it makes us all a little bit freer from an often overweening state.